American Middle-Class Rage Over Bush Economic, Spending Priorities

Yesterday, as I paid $3.39 per gallon for gas, I wondered why economic pressures on middle-class Americans haven't caught fire as an important issue for the 2008 presidential primary races.

Financial pressures on wage-earning Americans are earth-shattering in Fall 2007. Witness recent stories by Kimberly Amadeo, About.com's Guide to the U.S. Economy:

• Employment Situation Gradually Worsening - "... year-over-year employment was up only 1.2%. This is the weakest year-over-year job growth since 2004, indicating a steadily declining trend since January 2006."

• Credit Card Debt Up 8% from Last Year - "The declining housing market has caused many families to switch from home equity loans to credit cards to finance purchases."

• How Bad Is the Current Housing Market Decline? - "Resale single-family home sales peaked in February 2007, when they were at an annual rate of 5.88 million... If price declines follow sales declines, it could cause a recession. If it gets bad enough, it would compare to the 24% decline experienced during the Great Depression of 1929."

Understanding today's complex economy almost requires a comprehensive M.B.A. education. But Americans fully understand the problems they and their families experience on a daily basis:

• The astronomical price of gas
• The rising cost of groceries, in part due to transportation costs
• Falling values of their homes, often their largest investment
• Employment instability and under-employment
• Almost 50 million Americans with no health insurance
• A faltering U.S. education system
• The astronomical cost of a college education, making it impossible for millions of deserving students
• Evaporation of hard-earned pensions

I contend that the U.S. electorate is extremely angry over the strangling pressures placed on their lives when the Bush administration, fully abetted by Congress, enacts false and even immoral economic and spending priorities, such as :

• Now spending $271 million daily in Iraq. (Yes, daily!!!)

• Refusing to budget $35 billion over 5 years to bring basic health care to uninsured children, yet spent $43.5 billion last year on elaborate, high-tech overseas spying.

• Losing millions of middle-class wage jobs to other countries, under the banner of free trade. And yet the White House and Congress keep forging more such agreements.

And so much more...

The 2008 presidential primary season is winding down over the next few months, and by February 6, 2008, we'll know the Democratic and Republican nominees for the 2008 race for the White House. And then, I believe that middle-class economic issues will quickly rise in importance in presidential and Congressional election campaigns.

As I did with my new article, Pros & Cons of Free Trade Agreements, over the next year leading up to November 4, 2008, I will help you grasp the essential politics of the financial crises touching American homes.

Some derisively dub liberal anger over the spending priorities of the federal government as Democratic populism.

I call it good common sense, and taking care of my family while watching after my neighbor. I call that good ethics. And in my family's faith, we call that good Christian values in action.

(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Related Reading
Bush Crushes Health Care for Uninsured Children
Iraq War Results & Statistics as of Oct 31, 2007
Pros & Cons of Free Trade Agreements

New York Times, Nov 6, 2007: Oil Prices Soar to New High
New York Times, Oct 31, 2007: $43.5 Billion Spying Budget for Year, Not Including Military